


Friendship Bracelets

by Lokislittlearmy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angelic Grace, Friendship, Grace Sharing, M/M, Winged Gabriel, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5468063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokislittlearmy/pseuds/Lokislittlearmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel showed up for one reason: to give him a bracelet and ditch.<br/>Then this happened. Not that Gabriel really regrets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friendship Bracelets

Sam didn’t prefer to think about the times where Gabriel was absent, due to the whole “angel witness protection thing” that Gabriel didn’t even really bother explaining. But sometimes he wished it was back in those times, because Gabriel could be so. Damn. Annoying. Especially when he was hyper, which was admittedly most of the time. All due to the candy he seemed to never stop eating. But Sam knew it was easier to give him what he wanted, hyper or not.

Because when he wasn’t hyper, he was dead serious. Sam wasn’t going to lie, that side of Gabriel sort of scared him. It was too serious for him. It reminded him of the Mystery Spot and all those Tuesdays. The simple thought made him shudder. And so did Gabriel when he was serious.

Like now. When he was standing in front of Sam in the dingy light of the cheap motel room, not even the trace of a smile on his face. “Hey, Samsquatch,” he welcomed, voice nearly as hyperactive as his normal self. “Brought you a present.” He held out in his hand, not some key to the universe or something, but a string bracelet a child would make at summer camp. Made with embroidery thread, the chevron pattern was meant to wrap around his wrist, an orange and red pattern. Gabriel’s sleeve was shifted up just enough for Sam to see a similar one peeking out from beneath his sleeve, green and red instead.

“Uh...Thanks,” Sam replied, slowly stepping forward to take the bracelet. As soon as it was lifted from Gabriel’s hand, his mood lightened.

“I thought we should have friendship bracelets,” Gabriel shrugged. The motion felt a little over-exaggerated, but Sam tried not to pay any mind. Gabriel pulled Sam’s hand forward, taking the bracelet between two fingers. Sam watched as Gabriel tied the limp string in a neat bow, double-tied for good measure. “Don’t take it off.”

“Why not?” The question wasn’t meant to offend, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t concerned about what the bracelet could do to him. Gabriel’s eyes darted up to his, hair flopping a little with the movement of his head. 

“You don’t want to hurt my feelings, do you?”

Sam didn’t have a very good response to that, instead simply raising an eyebrow. His arm dropped to his side for a couple seconds, before he was made aware of a warm tingling spreading from the string bracelet. Nothing seemed to be off, and the feeling wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was concerning nonetheless.

He started shaking at his wrist with increasing franticness, resisting the urge to take it off in front of Gabriel. 

“Would you relax?” Gabriel groaned, flopping back onto one of the beds. “It’s not going to hurt you. It’s just settling in.”

Sam stopped shaking, realizing that wasn’t doing anything as the warmth spread to his upper arm. “Gabriel, what the hell did you just tie to my wrist?”

“Friendship bracelet?” Gabriel phrased it as a question, as if it wasn’t a supernatural thing.

“Gabriel,” Sam hissed, making Gabriel roll his eyes.

“It’s supposed to be protective. It’ll heal any wound you get, stuff like that. I made sure it wouldn’t hurt you. As long as we both wear them, it’ll be active.” Gabriel closed his eyes. Sam let himself notice that he was spread almost like a starfish as he sat on the opposite bed, before staring down at the bracelet.

“How does it-”

“Holy Father in Heaven, Sammich. You ask way too many questions.”

“I could always just take it off.”

Gabriel’s eyes turned to him, dark and glaring. “If you take that bracelet off right now, I swear to my Dad that I will slaughter you myself, and then put that bracelet back on to show you that it will heal you.”

Sam stilled, hand over the bracelet. He slowly retracted his hand. Gabriel nodded, closing his eyes again. They sat in silence for a while, before Gabriel, of course, got tired of the silence and decided to actually explain. “It works with my Grace.”

“What?” Sam asked, eyes snapping back to the angel. The warmth was working its way through his torso now, hovering at his neck as if cautious to travel to his head.

“It’s infused with my Grace, the bracelet. Just a little bit, but it’ll glow a tiny bit in a dark room. You wear enough flannel that I figured that wouldn’t be an issue.”

Sam blinked at the archangel. How was he so nonchalant about all of this? “Your Grace?” he echoed.

“Yep.” Gabriel popped the ‘p.’ “It’s not like it hurts either of us. It’s pretty beneficial.” Not entirely true. Gabriel would feel every time Sam got hurt, but what was a little bumping and bruising to an archangel? Nothing, that’s what. And for the time being, Sam’s safety was what mattered. So that bracelet was nothing, really. And Sam got hurt enough on the job that something that healed his wounds would probably be a world of wonder for him. “Besides,” he offered, “Your birthday is coming up, isn’t it?”

“In a month.” Sam felt the Grace travel down his opposite arm, circling around his skin like silken ribbons. It still seemed hesitant to weave around his head though, as it paused at his neck. “Are you the one controlling it?” Sam asked.

“The Grace? Partially. I can feel it. It’s a part of my essence, so it’s technically me controlling it. It won’t do anything without my sign-off. But really, no. Not exactly. It does what it wants.” Gabriel shrugged. 

Sam watched his legs as the warmth encircled them, around his knees, thighs, like a blanket. It was fading a little through his arm and torso, though still lingering. 

“It’s holding off at your neck because it’ll make you light-headed. It’ll save that for last.” Gabriel kept his eyes closed still, watching behind his eyelids as the Grace filled through Sam’s form. It filled in down to his toes, and Gabriel smiled a tiny bit when he saw Sam wiggling them. “Lay down,” he commanded as the Grace went into his fingers. As soon as Sam had leaned against the bed, legs still hanging over the edge, it rushed into the back of his skull like liquid. It blurred his vision, making his eyes tear.

“Oh my god,” Sam groaned. He squeezed his eyes shut and laid an arm over his face. He heard a faint laugh from the opposite bed. 

“That’s why I told you to lay down.” 

Sam would have rolled his eyes if not for the feeling that it would give him a headache or nausea or something. The Grace was rolling through his head like something otherworldly. Which, he supposed, it was. It waved through his ears, momentarily muffling the sounds of the motel heater. It circled his face, making it feel warm. Like he was blushing, almost. Not that he had any reason to, despite Gabriel’s quiet laughter from the other bed.

When the Grace left, or at least became less intense, it left him with a tingling feeling that reverberated inside his skull. He cocked an eye open, noting that his visuals were noticeably less blurry. He sat up slowly and looked over at Gabriel, who was already sitting upright and watching Sam with a cautious gaze.

“You feeling alright, kiddo?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah.” Well, he was pretty sure everything was alright. He wasn’t sure if it was the tingling or something else, but he could swear he could see something behind Gabriel. 

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

The only thing that got Gabriel was a shrug. Even though Sam was squinting at something just to the side of him. Something. After a moment of consideration, Gabriel tensed.

“Sam, what are you seeing?”

“I don’t know,” Sam admitted. “It looks like that dust the Sandman puts out in Rise of the Guardians, but also really vague. Like it’s not strong enough that I think I’m actually seeing it, you know? But I can tell it’s blue.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Sam. He hadn’t actually considered the Grace having the effect it seemed to be having. He stood, catching Sam’s attention again. The action made him stand directly in front of the taller man, though Gabriel was short enough that it brought them at least close to eye level.

“Can you still see it?”

Sam’s eyes darted to the general area around Gabriel and back to him. “Yeah. It looks like it’s sort of getting stronger.”

“You can see it better?”

“Yeah,” Sam replied.

Gabriel had a couple options. He could get out of here as quickly as possible and deal with this later, he could take the friendship bracelet back, or he could suggest the thing that seemed to be happening.

“Does it look like anything to you?” Gabriel asked. Sam’s eyes narrowed further, and they went to his side.

“I can’t tell.”

They waited there for a few moments, Gabriel waiting for Sam to finally catch on. He kept squinting at the dust, until the tingling from his skull faded away and left it feeling almost cold. And then, the dust became clearer, sparkling and shimmering into one clear, beautiful blue image.

Behind Gabriel, there were, spread out, six feathered wings. The feathers ruffled when Sam tensed, and every one of the wings flew back when Sam stood suddenly. Gabriel stumbled back, his calves hitting the bed. “You see it now, Sammich?”

“Yeah,” Sam breathed out. He wasn’t sure he could form a full, proper sentence. That was probably a bit beyond his reach, after all. “I...Am I supposed to?”

A sputtering of laughter broke out from Gabriel. His wings folded back against his back, “What, see them? No idea. I don’t exactly hand out friendship bracelets.” Despite his nonchalant tone, the shimmering blue feathers were consistently rustling together. A small crease formed between Sam’s eyebrows, the same one he got whenever he was worried about anything. Gabriel crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Is it an issue?”

“No,” Sam said. His eyebrows damn near shot into his hairline with surprise, and his eyes shot back to Gabriel. “No, of course not. I’m just...” Sam was trying for the words, he really was. “I’m not really used to them.” He looked back to the wings.

Gabriel let a little bit of the Grace wind around him like a protective blanket. “It’s fine,” he shrugged. “I don’t really blame you. It’s not like you’ve ever seen an angel’s wings before.” He raised his eyebrows, his lips twisting back into his usual smirk. “And I must say, mine are pretty grand.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, they’re great. Very blue.” The words made Sam look back to the wings. The color, if he was being honest, was astonishing. He felt as if he could get lost in them, like they were rivers formed with down. They looked soft enough to get lost in, too.

As if on command, one of Gabriel’s primaries stretched out around the angel to reach out to Sam. “Go ahead.”

One of Sam’s eyebrows raised, and when Gabriel nodded, he looked back to the wing stretched out to him. He lifted a tentative hand and slowly set his hand across the feathers. 

They were just as soft as Sam had predicted, if not more so. He shifted his hand enough to move across the wings.

And that was the moment the door of the run down motel room started unlocking, and then it was gone from beneath his hand. Gabriel was gone, in fact. 

Dean stepped inside with a greasy fast food bag and two soft drinks. “Hey Sammy.”

“Hey,” Sam acknowledged, going to help him with the food. 

“You feeling alright?”

“Yep.” And honestly? Sam felt like he was flying.


End file.
